‘Petty’ man roasted for splitting bill with friend after he ate 3 of his fries

Eating out with friends is one of life’s great pleasures, but not when it comes to settling up at the end of the meal.

Some people are happy to “go Dutch” and split the bill equally, while others think that each person should only pay for what they ate and drank.

However, one US man, named only as Alex, took the latter view a bit too literally when he charged his mate for eating some fries off his plate.

The baffled friend, Peter Pierdinock, shared the pair’s text exchange on TikTok, noting that “friends of friends get wayyy too bold with Venmo charges.” (Venmo is a money transfer app used widely across the US – a bit like Splitwise.)

The conversation begins with Alex writing jovially: “Hey!! I’m dividing up the dinner bill [right now]. You had some of my fries right??? lol.”

Peter then responds: “Haha, I think I had a couple. Why?”

“OK cool, no worries. I’ll just add 47 cents to your Venmo charge? If that’s cool,” Alex continues.

“So $23.83 total. Your meal + tip + part of my meal that you ate.”

The exchange sparked a flurry of replies from fellow TikTokerspeterpribylpierdinock/TikTok

The clip has racked up more than 3.1 million views and 400,000 comments as fellow TikTokers rushed to brand Alex “petty” and a “bad friend.”

“People like this don’t even realise how much of a joke they are. Get real,” one wrote.

“Charge Alex three cents for using your data for that message,” commented another.

“Forty-seven cents is not a bad price to find out what a bad friend Alex is,” said a third.

“Oh, didn’t you have a sip of my water too? That’s another 32 cents,” a fourth joked.

Meanwhile, a number of users empathised with Peter’s plight, calling out stingy friends and family members.

“I’ve had a close friend do this to me because I ate the two slices of bacon she didn’t want,” one said.

“My old roommate charged me $10 for one slice of pizza once. She put it on the lease agreement,” wrote another.

“My mom’s family does this when they’ve invited you over for a meal. And it’s the adult children who send the requests not my aunts and uncles,” another added.

Peter also contributed to the discussion, clarifying that he had three fries at most, and only after being offered.

“Alex is not a homie,” one user remarked bluntly.

“Not anymore,” Peter agreed.